Newport Brass = Expensive Garbage, and Why I love Moen and Kohler

jacqueline5May 31, 2013

Hi

I'm back, I'm mad, and I'm naming names. I logged many, many hours here at GW nine-ten years ago when we were building our dream home. I'm back because the insanely expensive Newport Brass valve in our master shower fractured and flooded not only the entire marble bathroom requiring it to be gutted but my formal dining room downstairs as well.

This is not the first failure we've experienced with Newport Brass. Two years ago the outrageously expensive faucet in the powder room started leaking. I took it to Ferguson's (where we purchased all our fixtures). They contacted Newport Brass. Newport Brass informed them and subsequently us, that their warranty covers basically nothing and we were out of luck. Whatever, we replaced it with good old reliable Moen, and it looks and works wonderful.

So, I'm sure you can guess what Newport Brass's response was when I contacted them about the brass temperature balancing valve that had a huge crack in the brass body that spewed water into the wall and caused over $20k (and counting) damage. The rep on the phone pretty much said, "So sad, too bad, oh and a new one will be $458 to replace the part - yes that's right, just that part, no, not the whole thing". Oh and the warranty for this ridiculously expensive fixture? "One year, parts only." Yep one year.

So who do I love? Moen and Kohler.

Story 1. Moen. After we finished building the house, I noticed a leak under the sink. There was a small crack in the corner of our undermount Moenstone kitchen sink. When I contacted Moen, they shipped out a new one immediately. When my installer said he couldn't replace the sink without damaging the granite slab counter Moen PAID for a new granite slab to be custom manufactured and installed! No angry calls needed, they were friendly and helpful every step of the way. They were AMAZING!

Story 2. Kohler
My beautiful Vinatta kitchen faucet started leaking a few months ago. I called Kohler. They shipped out a replacement cartridge right away - no charge. When it continued to leak after the cartridge was replaced, Kohler shipped a brand new Vinatta faucet NO CHARGE! Again, I had no issues, they were helpful, no jumping through hoops, no 'Too bad, so sad.' Just excellent customer service and a commitment to standing behind a quality product. They are amazing.

If you happen to work for Newport Brass and want to contact me to apologize for your deplorable product and customer no-service, please do. I welcome the conversation.

PS I hope I'm not breaking any GW rules, but I'm going to also post this in the building a home section. I know I was very grateful for feedback and product reviews when building our home. If it's a problem, please let me know. Thank you!

My goodness that's terrible. I hope insurance covers your damages. I can't imagine how upset and frustrated you are. We just remodeled 2 bathrooms and used both Moen and Kohler. I wanted to go with higher end fixtures, but didn't fit our budget. I appreciate your feedback on the brands. It reminds me of our kitchen remodel. My plumber had a hard time installing our Moen drinking water faucet/filter. He played around with it so much that a screw thread was worn down so much it couldn't be installed. I called Moen to see if I could get another screw. The Moen rep on the phone looked up my filter system and saw that it was discontinued and sent me a totally new one.